A numerical study on the benefits of passive-arc plates on drag and noise reductions of a cylinder in turbulent flow

Abstract

In this study, we introduce a novel arrangement consisting of two arc plates around a cylinder with the privilege of improved fluid flow and noise control. The arc plates are placed symmetrically and concentrically at the rear portion of a circular cylinder. The coverage angle (30 °≤β≤75°) of the plates and the normalized radius of arc plates (1.125≤Rd≤1.625) are varied to find the optimum case in terms of drag and noise reductions. The simulations are performed for a turbulent flow with a Reynolds number of 22 000. The numerical analysis is based on an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) solver and Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW–H) acoustic analogy. It is found that by implementing the arc plates, the noise level and drag coefficient decrease dramatically. The results also reveal a strong correlation between the vortex shedding suppression and the noise reduction. It is shown that as the fluctuation of lift force decreases, the performance of flow and noise control enhances simultaneously. Furthermore, the noise assessment indicates that in a specific configuration of the arc plates, the overall sound pressure level decreases by around 51 dB compared to the uncontrolled case with no arc plates. Also, a maximum noise reduction of 27 dB is achieved, in which the drag coefficient reduces by 39% compared to the case with no arc plates. In conclusion, the results provide strong support for the proposed passive method as a beneficial strategy for noise reduction and wake control of cylindrical structures, which have wide applications in industry.